I don't know what was burning, but nobody seemed too concerned about it. Again, the track is in the background, and we were only about halfway between the west end and east end of the Coke lot. East is closer to the track, and the general direction of this photo.

Gasoline Alley when they are taking the cars from the garages to the track is the worst bottleneck in the history of auto racing...Well, I'm not sure of that; it was the first race I've ever attended, aside from sprints and midgets.

Another bit of evidence to support my case. I'm not complaining. It was awesome to experience and everyone was surprisingly nice. Not one single crappy comment was heard by me. That's not to say that I wasn't thinking a few to myself...

This group of service men and women got a rousing ovation from each section they passed. They all got a ride around the track on a fleet of 130 (I think) pickup trucks...It was very moving...
Florence Henderson's rendition of 'God Bless America' brought tears to my eyes....because it sucked so much a$$.

Helio and Danica were the drivers I was pulling for...Sorry Danica, you got hosed. She did a nice job up to the point she got wrecked. It isn't the end of the world. She wasn't the first driver to be taken out through no fault of their own, and she won't be the last. I woulda been just as pissed as she was though.

The safety and cleanup crews are second to none. They were impressive to watch all afternoon. Great job, fellas. (Not sure if there are any females; I would imagine there are. That wasn't meant to be derogatory.)

I was wearing a t-shirt and shorts. It was 80-82 degrees and sunny, with a nice breeze at times. It wasn't long sleeves weather. It wasn't winter vest weather. It CERTAINLY wasn't three layers of clothes, and being clad in all black from head-to-toe weather. This girl seemed like a wrestler trying to sweat down to make weight for a match that night or something. I was hot just looking at her wearing all that crap.

My plan was to get a sweet shot of Dixon crossing the bricks with the checkered flag being waved...I followed him down the front straight, and apparently right when I focused the camera, Mr. Excitement pumped his fist and the camera focused on that instead. Sigh. Not really his fault...He was happy and having a good time. Frustrating, nonetheless.

I think it was NaptownSeth who posted something about shaking his head at the morons trying to fight the pedestrian traffic on Georgetown while in a vehicle right after the race. This photo is for him. Damn, was he right! I'm glad we took his (and others) advice and parked farther away. No way we would've gotten out of there for HOURS.

Oh, I almost forgot! I got a video with my little camera of the entire field roaring by our seats down the front straightaway on about Lap 3. It is pretty cool! I uploaded it to youtube, but they killed the quality of it. Hope you still enjoy it. Crank up the sound and you can feel like you were actually THERE!

zMYb6F-wCu8

Kaufman

05-26-2008, 05:55 PM

Nice pictures and well done. Thank you for sharing.http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Zodiac-logo.png

idioteque

05-26-2008, 06:26 PM

Haha the picture with the lady and the baby, that is just a vintage racing picture right there.

Big Smooth

05-26-2008, 07:43 PM

That is awesome. I went to the 500 in 2005 and we spent the entire day on the infield. Still, it gave me chills to get close enough to a corner of the track to see the field race by.

Looks like you might've been just opposite of us as far as seats go. I think we're just out of the frame at the top right side of this picture. We're higher up than your picture shows:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d163/heywoode/052508%20Indy%20500/IMG_1559.jpg

We were in the Paddock Penthouse Box 41. ..And up fairly high so that we were under roof and in the shade all day :)

While you might've had someone messing up your shot of the flyover, we couldn't see it all from our seats. We just hear it, hear the crowd cheer, and sometimes get a view of it on the big screens. SOMETIMES the plane (or planes) turn left at the south end of the speedway and we can see them then.... But if they fly straight over and away we don't see them :(

I saw the Lloyd wreck sliding down the pit lane and had a good view of it but I had my camera put away and couldn't get it out and turned on until the car had stopped. I had a new race scanner I was using this year so I didn't have my camera on standby and at the ready for action.

I had a cheap scanner last year and it just made me want a nicer one so I picked up a nicer one the day before the race and I was fumbling with it more than the camera. Besides listening in on driver communications you can also hear the TV audio, the radio audio, or the PA audio. You can also listen in to race control (officials), etc..

Some teams are relatively quiet while others are coaching/encouraging their drivers around the track. Some drivers talk more than others. I think Dan Wheldon summed up what we were all wondering when he started going backwards after running up front early: "What the f--k is wrong...?"

Listening in on the scanner just adds another dimension to attending a race.

It looks like you did a lot of people watching.

N8R

05-27-2008, 04:38 AM

Nice pics as per usual there Wooderson. You take a nice pic.

indygeezer

05-27-2008, 06:48 AM

You mention the Safety crew. There is a young lady that posts on the Star Pacer board who works as an EMT on the track (not the stands) and has for years.

YEs, she posts around here occasionally but not often.

heywoode

05-27-2008, 08:34 AM

First, thanks to everyone who posted here that liked my photos. We had a great time, and I really enjoy taking and then posting photos for others to enjoy.

Looks like you might've been just opposite of us as far as seats go. I think we're just out of the frame at the top right side of this picture. We're higher up than your picture shows:

We were in the Paddock Penthouse Box 41. ..And up fairly high so that we were under roof and in the shade all day :)

While you might've had someone messing up your shot of the flyover, we couldn't see it all from our seats. We just hear it, hear the crowd cheer, and sometimes get a view of it on the big screens. SOMETIMES the plane (or planes) turn left at the south end of the speedway and we can see them then.... But if they fly straight over and away we don't see them :(

I saw the Lloyd wreck sliding down the pit lane and had a good view of it but I had my camera put away and couldn't get it out and turned on until the car had stopped. I had a new race scanner I was using this year so I didn't have my camera on standby and at the ready for action.

I had a cheap scanner last year and it just made me want a nicer one so I picked up a nicer one the day before the race and I was fumbling with it more than the camera. Besides listening in on driver communications you can also hear the TV audio, the radio audio, or the PA audio. You can also listen in to race control (officials), etc..

Some teams are relatively quiet while others are coaching/encouraging their drivers around the track. Some drivers talk more than others. I think Dan Wheldon summed up what we were all wondering when he started going backwards after running up front early: "What the f--k is wrong...?"

Listening in on the scanner just adds another dimension to attending a race.

It looks like you did a lot of people watching.

I would love to have a scanner and listen to all that stuff! It was my first race, and I didn't feel like renting one for the day. At some point, I will probably buy one so that I have it for any other races I attend. After the experience I had at this race, it is a virtual LOCK that I will be attending races with quite a bit of frequency. This may be a stupid question, but does the scanner work with every race? I would think that it is like a regular scanner, and as long as you have the list of frequencies, you are good to go....Can you give me an idea on what ones are good, and how much they cost? You really seem to be knowledgeable about IRL and racing in general (I loved the commentary and photos in your thread!) so I would appreciate any advice you could give.

Yes, we did quite a bit of people watching too. I didn't even post any shots I got of hotties!

duke dynamite

05-27-2008, 11:44 AM

Heywoode, nice photos as always. I left my camera in the car. D'oh!

I want to show you one of my most favorite shots I've ever taken at IMS. The 2006 Brickyard 400.

Yeah Twes wants more of this guy....
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d163/heywoode/052508%20Indy%20500/SD300/IMG_4163.jpg

heywoode

05-27-2008, 12:08 PM

I'm a little disappointed in the crowd shots if you know what I mean.

:D

Oh, I've got 'em. I just didn't post 'em.

So sorry!

Trader Joe

05-27-2008, 12:15 PM

No kidding woode. You're slippin'.

Twes

05-27-2008, 01:14 PM

I think he's waiting for all his Heywood gone wild signed contracts to come back.

Gyron

05-27-2008, 01:20 PM

We expect a post in DSP......

Bball

05-27-2008, 01:24 PM

I too am waiting for the special photos to appear....

:dance:

-Bball

Stryder

05-27-2008, 06:26 PM

me too.

Naptown_Seth

05-28-2008, 04:17 PM

It stopped almost right in front of us...I was lucky enough to be standing and looking that direction anyway when it happened!
Pretty sure I'm in this photo. Maybe you can get me the full size version. PM me if you can.

And in exchange I'm betting I probably have some good versions of your seats too, we were nearly straight across in the Pad Penthouse 32.

Also I have no special photos. I went with my wife. Guess I'll crop up some and add them here when I get time.